


Anna's Legacy

by Annehiggins



Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-29
Updated: 2012-10-29
Packaged: 2017-11-17 07:50:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/549262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annehiggins/pseuds/Annehiggins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The confrontation with Anna leaves Castiel broken-hearted and desperate to protect Dean.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Anna's Legacy

**Author's Note:**

> This was my very first Dean/Cas story and it is horribly dated and totally negated by later canon. I wrote it shortly after we first met Anna and posted it to Live Journal January 12, 2009.
> 
> This was the original note: Pretty much thought I was done with this fandom, then _Supernatural_ gave us the sexiest angel I've ever seen this side of Cary Grant _(The Bishop's Wife)._ I've never split up a pairing in any fandom before, but one look at Castiel and it was Dean/Sam Who? To compensate Sammy, I let him keep Ruby even though I'm pretty sure the show will have her either turn out to be totally against him or die proving her love for him.

  
**Anna's Legacy**  
By Anne Higgins

His entire body aching, Castiel pushed himself up off the barn floor and moved stiffly over to Uriel. Not because he felt any sense of solidarity with him, but because he knew what was coming. He forced himself to look at Dean and willed the man to understand, to tread lightly.

As ever with Dean Winchester, such thoughts were in vain. "Well, what are you guys waiting for?" he demanded, apparently furious the two angels still occupied the same space he did.

Had he seen a single sign of forgiveness within his charge, he would have told Dean his injuries made him too weak too disincorporate, that if he tried to leave he would lose the physical form he'd used since the Bronze Age. But he saw nothing that made him believe Dean would care, so he kept silent.

Dean did not. "You've gotta go get Anna." Yes, they did, but not for the reasons Dean thought. For that Castiel had no one to blame but himself. He had not told Dean the truth. Had he not wanted to burden him with it? Or had he simply been unable to risk Dean believing Anna instead of him?

Apparently believing angels had the same mentality as human children, Dean added, "Unless you're scared."

Scared? Terrified came far closer to the truth, but of course, Uriel dealt with such things by displaying anger. He took a step toward the Winchester brothers and the demoness, then growled, "This isn't over."

Castiel reached out a hand, the gesture stopping the attack and drawing Uriel's full attention to him. It also let his brother see how badly Alastair had hurt him.

"Oh, it's looks over to me, Chuckles."

With a snarl Uriel dispersed his human form and whisked Castiel away too quickly for human eyes to notice Castiel remained human. It hurt, but his vessel survived it.

Not one to take comfort from human surroundings, Uriel dropped Castiel onto a deserted stretch of beach, remaining in his true form as Castiel gasped for breath. He curled into himself, physically trying to re-enforce the damaged ties between flesh and spirit. "You would heal faster, brother, if you shed the meatsuit you cling to."

He managed to shake his head. He could still hear the fervent prayer of the soldier as he fell, the plea to grant meaning to a death suffered in the midst of a battle so insignificant that history did not even remember it or the war it was part of. Castiel had gladly answered and would not allow an abomination like Alastair to destroy the physical monument to such devotion.

"Go," he gasped. "See if you can find her."

It was a measure of his great anger that Uriel vanished instantly, more eager for a possible battle than to protect Castiel. Not that he truly needed protection. An attack would merely destroy the body Uriel wanted him to abandon. But he would not abandon it. He. Would. Not.

The light surrounding him grew brighter, and his Father's love touched him. Words no human could hear, let alone understand reminded him that the vessel's host had long resided in Heaven and no longer had memory of the shell it had once worn. There would be no dishonor in letting it fail.

No, he could not. It was too much a part of him. It was. …

_A pleasing form. Especially to a striking pair of green eyes._

Castiel flushed, the physical reaction to his emotions – and how, oh, how could Dean have believed he lacked them? – doing much to heal him.

_Yet did not Castiel fear what he believed he must now do?_

Yes, he did. Had ever since he had agreed to rescue Dean and to all that might follow. But he also knew that while there were other ways, none of them would leave the Winchesters whole and alive.

His Father embraced him, wrapping him in love and healing energy. He had never seen His face. In truth, Castiel did not believe He had one, but he had felt His love, felt the warm cocoon of it around him many times. Now it reassured him as well as healed him. Yes, he would feel it again. The reassurance soothed him, helped push away the fear of change. A contentment spread through him, his course set.

He rested there in the sand and sun until the light faded. Minutes? No, hours, he decided, but not many. He donned his true form and took flight, soaring back toward where he had last seen Dean. From there he found him quickly enough – in yet another unremarkable hotel room 200 some miles northwest of the barn.

Dean sat on a bed eating a burger, while Sam sat at a table casting worried glances toward the second bed where Ruby lay, her face pale, her wounds obviously causing her great pain. Although he remained veiled, Dean looked up when Castiel entered the room.

"Cas?" he whispered, standing.

Castiel almost laughed, appreciating the irony of Dean finally Seeing him today of all days. A last gift from Father. He did not have to do this to save Dean, but Dean would never forgive him if he failed to keep Sam safe as well.

Once again releasing to Heaven the Grace his human vessel could not hold, he took the human form the others were accustomed to. For a long moment they all stared at one another, then he sighed and walked over to the bed where Ruby rested. He heard Sam's chair scoot backward as the younger Winchester stood, as ever anxious to protect, yet uncertain if he should interfere.

Castiel kept his gaze on the demon. "Should you ever truly betray them, I will destroy you," he promised, then reached out and lightly touched her stomach. Clothing and bandages covered the rends in her flesh, but they ran deep and she, like he had, was fighting for her vessel. It took but seconds to push the remnants of his Father's healing energy into her, then he withdrew his touch. "Do not make me regret this."

She stared at him, eyes wide with wonder. And well she should. In all of time no angel had ever healed a demon, let alone offering up God's own energy to do so. "Thanks," she murmured, then did her best to feign nonchalance as she scrambled off the bed and behind Sam.

"Yes," Sam agreed, giving him a grateful smile. "Thank you."

He could see how much the two loved each other, and offered a silent prayer that it would lead to their salvation, not their ruin. He nodded, then waited.

As Castiel had known he would, Dean broke the silence after a few moments. "Did you find Anna already?"

He closed his eyes against the pain caused by hearing her name come from Dean's lips, but then the images of their kiss, of their bodies moving together began to torture his thoughts. He forced his eyes back open and did nothing to keep the pain from his eyes. It seemed to have no more effect on Dean now than it had in the barn. "Not yet."

Dean shook his head. "You jerks are still gonna try and kill her, aren't you?"

"Oh, yes."

"Yeah, well good luck with that. She's not some helpless innocent anymore."

"Innocent?" Anger flashed through him. "Are you truly that great a fool?"

Dean scowled, but Castiel did not give him a chance to answer. "Anna," he almost used the name she'd had long ago, but that comrade had ceased to exist even before she'd ripped the Grace from within herself. "She used you like a shield even after she knew who she really was, and you would call her an innocent? For that selfish cowardice alone, she deserves damnation."

The two brothers shifted uncomfortably. They had spent a good part of their lives risking life and limb to protect others. In the cold light of hindsight, Anna's willingness to allow them to do so for her had to perplex them. It would not fit at least the younger brother's image of an angel.

He shook his head. "You chose to believe her. Every word she said." Again the anguish rose up. Dean had seen him display wonder, sorrow, anger and doubt, yet he had believed her. How? How could he have not laughed in her face? How could Dean have not known what Anna had known instantly? "You let her touch my mark of protection."

Dean stiffened, and his left hand twitched as if he were fighting to keep it away from the handprint burned into his right shoulder. His link to Dean; now her way to Dean as well. "Dude, that is none of your business," he hissed. "And what kind of pervy peeping angel are you?"

The kind whose heart was breaking. The kind for whose benefit Anna had staged the entire thing. "I didn't see it as it happened," he said. "It was in your thoughts as you fell asleep."

A frown. "Uriel entered that dream."

"Only after I saw." Blocked by her foul blood-spell, he'd been unable to reach Dean any other way. He'd wanted to warn him, but Anna had known what he would do and had made certain he would know it was too late. Broken inside, he'd sent Uriel in his place, only to find out later that his brother had chosen threats over truth. He couldn't even blame him. Anna had made certain truth belong to her, not them. Well, unwanted or not, disbelieved or not, the time for truth had arrived. "She used you against me and let you send the demon after her lover."

Dean took a step back as if he'd been struck. Perhaps not a fool after all, but Sam did not seem to know what was coming. "What lover?"

Castiel looked into Dean's eyes and said, "Alastair."

Sam paled, Ruby looked stunned, but Dean exploded, "You're lying!"

He shook his head. "I would give my life for it not to be true, but she fled Heaven when we discovered their relationship, and she used you as bait to find him again."

"No," A weak sound, not one of disbelief, and he dropped down to sit on the bed, then hid his face in his hands.

Castiel wondered if Dean could have a worse nightmare – a woman he'd made love to in league with the demon who had tortured him for 30 years, then had turned the next 10 into an even worse nightmare. "I am sorry, but there is worse to tell."

Dean shook his head. "No, no more."

He wished otherwise, but he could not grant Dean mercy. "She absorbed him into the remnants of her Grace." Over the years, Uriel had tapped into her Grace in battle, diminishing it, while feeding his anger over his lover's betrayal. She would find herself far less powerful and unwilling to release the power Alastair could add to her own. "They will have become one being, and both shared a fascination with you."

Ruby made a choked sound that mirrored Dean's. Sam clenched his fists and demanded, "They'll come for Dean?"

"I believe so, yes. And soon." A day, two at the most. Long enough to overcome the shock of merging, with perhaps a stop along the way to deal with Lilith. Alastair was not the type to enjoy servitude, and he would make his former mistress pay, but Castiel doubted it would stop the breaking of the seals. It seemed the sort of plan Anna would favor, although she would probably seek a way to destroy Lucifer so she could rule. No, nothing had changed except they now faced a more deadly foe with an even stronger interest in the Winchesters.

"But you can stop them?" Such hope in that question.

He shook his head, his glance going to Dean's shoulder.

"So fix it, damn it!" Dean snapped, jerking back his sleeve. Castiel looked away, but heard the collective gasp. Not his handprint, but the smaller image of a woman's hand would now cover Dean's shoulder. "Cas?"

"Raising a soul from the Pit is an intimate act." He lifted his head, unashamed of the tears shining brightly in his eyes. He could feel. God in Heaven, he could feel. "God chose me for the task because he knew I would see your soul and fall in love." But Dean had chosen Anna, not him.

Had he spoken those words? He must have, for Dean whispered, "I'm sorry."

Yes, a great deal to regret about all of this. With a blink of his eyes, Castiel banished his tears. "I can 'fix this,'" he said, "but it will require another intimate act."

A deep and prolonged silence filled the room. Finally Dean cleared his throat and said, "Um, Sammy, I think we're gonna need a little privacy here."

It surprised Castiel. He'd expected it would take a great deal more to convince Dean to believe him. But perhaps the altered handprint could persuade even the most determined non-believer.

"Yeah, right," Sam muttered, his face flushed as he backed toward the door Ruby had already fled through. "We'll just go to a movie … or something."

"Sammy?"

"Yeah?"

"Might want to take the car keys," he said, nodding toward the table and the metal key ring lying on it.

"Right." He grabbed them up, then ran out.

Castiel ignored the exchange. Instead, he took the time to slip off his coat, suit jacket and tie, leaving himself in a more equal state of dress with Dean. Uriel had laughed about Dean's Ken-doll comments, finding it hilarious that a human would fail to realize another sort of being would join differently, but when inhabiting a human form things were far from 'junkless.' He put an end to the misconception by filling his senses with Dean and letting his body react. The evidence of his arousal on display, he picked up a vial of olive oil the humans used in some of their protective wards. "You have been with men before."

Not a question, but Dean chose to treat it like one. "Few times. You?"

"No. It is forbidden for an angel to engage in casual sex with a human. And I have never been in love before." He still wanted to weep at the unfairness of being sent to one he would finally love, but who somehow would not love him in return. "However, lack of knowledge is not an issue."

"Oh, good." Dean pulled his T-shirt over his head, baring the muscular planes of his chest, a sight which made Castiel even harder. Not the most comfortable sensation, but endurable. "I um-"

"There is no point in discussing this further," he answered, discarding his own shirt. "I will do what I can to make you enjoy this, but it must be done."

"Jesus, Cas-"

No, no blasphemy. Not now. "Will you please be silent," he all but begged, then he took a more direct route, using his wings to pull Dean to him so he could silence him with a kiss. It became almost a game. Dean kept trying to speak, and Castiel continued to stop him. With a kiss that swallowed his tongue and words, or a caress along sensitive skin that robbed him of speach, Castiel prevented all but the sweet music of Dean's moans and gasps of pleasure.

His tears slid down his cheeks, then splashed on Dean's skin. To have this at last, yet to know it would never happen again ripped at his soul, but he helped Dean push off the rest of their clothing. His touch gentle, loving despite his pain, he prepared Dean's body, moving his fingers until Dean writhed all but mindless beneath him. Only then did he risk abandoning the delicious taste of his mouth to begin to kiss and lick at the offensive handprint.

With a smooth, easy thrust he entered Dean, then returned to his mouth at the human's broken whimper. He moved with slow, but deep strokes trading off equally thorough kisses with murmured words of apology. He could taste the salt of Dean's own tears beneath his lips, feel Dean's legs and arms wrapping around him, clinging to him as if he were something precious instead of what Dean had never wanted.

"I'm sorry," Castiel whispered, brokenly. "So sorry."

He timed it perfectly, gripping Dean's shoulder in the same instant they both came, shuddering against each other, tongues dancing together, limbs clutching so hard they bruised. Perfection burning away Anna's foul touch.

Castiel had one moment of perfect clarity. His mark once again in place, he could stop. He could escape back to Heaven and send another angel in his place whenever he sensed Dean needed him. He need not do this, but Dean would never truly be safe if he did not. He let the moment pass and reached out for the part of him still in Heaven, then sent it flowing through him and into the human he loved.

Dean stiffened at the influx of so much raw power, tried to push him away, but Castiel did not stop, not until a full third of what he had once been had become an irrevocable part of Dean.

Bracing himself he broke the connection, severing his ties with the same impact of a poorly wielded blade hacking off a limb.

*

Castiel's scream erupted through the room, then he went horribly limp. Too late to stop another hard shove against him, Dean sent the angel tumbling to the floor. "No," he pleaded, scrambling off the bed. "Please, no."

He pulled Castiel into his arms, horrified at how pale he looked. "What did you do?" He began to rock him, trying to get him to show some sign of life. He looked up at the ceiling. "God, what did he do?"

No answer. Not that he ever got one. Die of shock the day he did. So he called out to something far more reliable. "Sammy!"

Against all reason, his brother burst into the room. Sam didn't blanch at the sight of two nude men or the smell of sex filling the room. He did what he always did and ran over to help. "Dean?" he asked, his hand touching Dean's unmarked shoulder.

"I think he's dead."

"Let me see." Dean tried to let go. He honestly did, but he felt so strange. Grief, fear, and something else swirled through him, disorienting him, making him dizzy and uncertain of everything, but the need to keep Cas safe.

Sam seemed to understand, and didn't yell at him. Just pried his hands loose enough to get at Cas. "Heart's faint, but has a steady beat," he said, lifting his head off Cas' chest. "Breathing's about the same."

Relief made the dizziness worse, and he pulled Cas back close up against his own chest.

"Dude, what happened?"

Dean shook his head. "Had me flying so high I didn't know what way was up, then there was this … pushing sort of thing. Felt weird but … I couldn't get him to stop, then he screamed."

"Yeah, I heard that much," he said with a blush. "Almost came in then, but … well."

It struck Dean that this situation pretty much put the 'awk' in awkward. Probably find it fucking hilarious if he weren't so terrified. "What do we do?"

Sam frowned, thinking. Nothing Dean knew of that they could do, but sometimes Sammy could pull a bit of geeklore out of his ass and save the day. Unfortunately, it wasn't one of those days. "Never heard of any of this before." He glanced around the room and their all too meager defenses. "We can't stay here though."

"No," Dean agreed.

"Safest place I know is Bobby's panic room, but Anna knows about that."

"Yeah."

Sam thought another minute, then shook his head. "Still probably the safest place to go."

"Okay."

His brother stood up and started gathering the few things they'd unpacked. Dean didn't move. It took Sam a moment to notice, then he frowned. "Dude, you need to get dressed."

"Yeah." He still didn't move.

Sam sighed, and got with the Dean-not-letting-go-of-his-angel program. He finished packing up, then coaxed Dean into letting go with one hand enough times to get both Dean and Cas dressed. Somewhere in there Ruby showed back up and helped, too, but Dean decided to completely block that from his memory. It worked well enough he was never all together certain how he ended up in the backseat of the Impala with Cas still clutched in his arms, but he was too busy willing Cas' heart to keep beating to feel any relief at getting on the road.

Flooring it all the way, they reached Bobby's in a couple of hours. Once in the safe or as-save-as-it-got panic room, Dean found he could allow Sam to talk him into letting go. "You need to eat, Dude," he said, gently tugging at Dean's fingers. "Shower wouldn't be a bad idea either," he added with an artistic wrinkle of his nose.

"Bitch," Dean muttered, but let Sammy manhandle him upstairs.

"Jerk."

Dean started to go into the bathroom, then paused, "Hey, little brother?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for not going to the movies."

Sam blushed. "Wasn't certain what would happen … beyond the obvious. Couldn't leave you alone."

Dean managed a faint smile, unable to even begin to wrap his mind around how uncomfortable it had to be to wait outside while his older brother got nailed by an angel. And how weird was his life that he even had to think that sentence let alone live it?

"Dean?"

"Yeah?"

"You love him, don't you?"

He nodded. "Pretty much since the moment I first saw him." Been a real struggle not to yell 'take me I'm yours,' but stabbing him had edged it out.

"Then why-?

"Good things don't happen to me, Sammy. I figured he was just another bastard out to get us killed, and I didn't want to give him that piece of me."

Sam stared at him, then caught him up in a quick, hard hug. He stepped back fast, putting enough distance between them that Dean couldn't kick his ass for it. "You deserve good things," he said with a fierce certainty that made Dean's chest hurt. "Let him love you."

He remembered the tears flowing from those incredible blue eyes, and shook his head. "Not gonna happen, Sammy," he said, choking on the words. "He's gonna leave me soon as he comes around." He'd tried to tell Cas he loved him so many times, but the angel hadn't let him say the words, hadn't let him beg for forgiveness. Tears stung his eyes. "I really screwed this one up."

He closed the bathroom door behind him, then managed not to let the sobs overtake him until he got the shower turned on.

*

Sam stared at the damned door. It had been easier to look at the motel room door, trying not to picture what was happening inside, than to stand here knowing his brother was crying on the other side of this one. And that was saying a lot. Okay, time to do what one Winchester always did when another Winchester messed up – fix it.

He turned on his heel and stalked back to the panic room. Ruby stood outside the door – no way she could go inside or miss a chance to snark about it – guarding the unconscious angel. Probably felt unloved and unwanted. Well, Sam had had enough of that garbage to last a lifetime. Before she could launch into her latest round of 'discrimination against demons,' he grabbed her arms and pulled her into a deep kiss. When he released her, "I love you, okay?"

She nodded. "Love you, too. Okay?"

He nodded, and she glanced back at Castiel. "So maybe I should go fix lunch or something domestic like that?"

"Good idea."

"But we will continue this later?"

"Count on it."

"I will." 

Once she disappeared around the corner, Sam closed and secured the door of Bobby's demon-proof vault. Hopefully it would at least slow an angel down enough he couldn't vanish before Sam could kick his ass for breaking his brother's heart. Even if Dean had broken Castiel's first.

After collapsing, Castiel had looked all but dead. Pale, his face drawn with lines of pain, the signs of life all weak. But now he looked like … he looked fine. Sam's glare narrowed, a sneaking suspicion that a true coma had faded into a simple way to hid from Dean.

"Dean's not here right now so, wake up!" he snapped, not in the least bit surprise when blue eyes opened.

Between waking and sitting up, Castiel lost the rumbled 'slept in his clothes after sex' look. Sam noted it, but felt too pissed off to get really impressed. "Is Dean all right?" were the first words out of Castiel's mouth.

That was just not fair. Sam wanted to yell at someone, and he couldn't yell at his brother, who looked like a kicked puppy. Trouble was, so did the angel. "He's fine. Terrified you're going to leave him, but fine."

Castiel gave him the perplexed look he tended to use a lot around Sam and Dean. "Why would he fear I will leave?"

"Aren't you going to?"

"Yes. But that is what he wants."

Sam sighed. Trust his emotionally-retarded brother to fall for someone even more clueless than he was. Guess he got to do some yelling after all.

*

His ears still ringing from the younger Winchester's shouting, Castiel popped out of the panic room and into the bathroom. He trusted leaving his clothing behind would reassure Sam he had not gone far, and why would they think demon wards would stop an angel? Perhaps not the angel he had once been, but still an angel.

He pushed aside the shower curtain, and stepped inside to take a very startled, very red-eyed Dean into his arms. "I will not leave you," he said, holding him close. "Not unless you ask me, too." Sam had advised … ordered him to go for the direct, words-of-one-syllable-please route.

To his amazement it worked. Dean relaxed in his arms. "Never gonna happen," Dean said, then kissed him. 

An hour or so later, they all gathered in the kitchen and Castiel finally admitted what he had done.

"You WHAT?" Dean bellowed, which was fairly in line with the reaction Castiel had expected. And proved his wisdom in not telling him what he planned to do before he did it.

"I gave you a part of my Grace," he repeated patiently, then considered his words. "Well, more of it."

"What?"

Really. Did humans think nothing through? "Did you believe I used glue to put your soul back in your body?"

"That's why only an angel can raise a soul from Hell," Sam got it quickly enough. "Without the Grace, no resurrection, just a disembodied spirit easily returned to Hell."

Castiel nodded. "The rest was to have been your reward for your service to Heaven." Which Castiel thought sounded better than 'energy to use to resurrect him again after he inevitably fell in battle.'

Dean either didn't agree or heard what Castiel had tried not to say. He glared with enough force to make Castiel consider hiding behind Sam. "So now I'm a freaking angel?"

"Demi-angel. I could no more survive losing a full half of my Grace than this form could hold all of it. But, should I die, you will receive my full Grace."

"Okay, first, you're not allowed to do that," Dean said, then gave him a fierce, but brief kiss. "Second, if this was supposed to be some cosmic merit badge, how come I got it now?"

Ruby rolled her eyes. "He just told you, dumbass. His vessel can't handle his full Grace, but he couldn't be your full-time stalker with part of it constantly pulling him back to Heaven."

Dean shot her a glare, then looked to Castiel for confirmation.

"Anna has changed things. It is no longer safe to risk leaving you unprotected. This is the only way I could 'perch on your shoulder.'"

"So you gave me this chunk of yourself even though you thought I didn't love you."

"Yes."

"And you were just going to follow us around and use me like a storage battery when you needed to use your angel mojo."

"Yes."

Dean rolled his eyes. "And Uriel says humans are dumb."

He smiled slightly. "I believe he considers me equally challenged."

"Guess it's a good thing I'm batshit crazy about you then," Dean said, moving in for another kiss.

This one last longer, went deeper and Castiel groaned softly at the probe of Dean's tongue.

"Oh, ick," Sam announced in a loud voice, prompting them to break the kiss and look at him. "Sorry, guys, but you have used up your PDA allowance for at least a decade."

PDAs? 

Dean chuckled. "What's the matter, Sammy? Afraid you'll go blind?"

"I can only hope," he muttered back.

Castiel started to ask what they were talking about when he felt it – a brush of wings against his protective wards. "Sam, take Ruby to the panic room and lock yourselves inside. Now." With luck Anna had absorbed enough demon energy to prevent her from at least detecting them.

Ruby looked terrified, but did not move. "I can't go in there!"

He gave her a look. Could she not sense the changes within? Not human, but no longer true demon either, the vault could no longer hold or harm her. "God allowed me to heal you, woman. Go!"

Her eyes widened then she grabbed Sam's hand. Sam didn't look happy but he went with her.

Dean shifted, his body fairly crackling with energy. "So what's the plan? You sap the stuff out of me and go kick the bitch's ass?"

"Originally." He would have had no other choice without Dean's acceptance. "But plans change, my love." He held out his hand. "Trust me?"

"Yeah, I do," he answered, clasping their hands together.

*

Dean suddenly found himself airborne, wings he'd not known he had spreading with a thought to allow him to stay with Cas, who somehow kept hold of him despite a lack of hands. "Our bodies on the floor somewhere?"

"No," Cas answered. "We disburse them within these forms."

Damn, he had a lot to learn. And were angels allowed to even think 'damn?' Mentally he shrugged. Maybe angels didn't, but this demi-dude did. And Whatever could just get over it.

They stopped to hover miles above Bobby's house seconds before the Anna-Alastair thing swooped into view. Beauty laced with ugliness or ugliness laced with beauty, Dean couldn't decide which but the combination would have twisted his stomach had he had one.

She-he-it stopped several yards away, and Dean could tell with a look that the angel-demon combo lacked the raw power of his and Cas' dynamic duo. He should have known it wouldn't be that easy.

"Dean," it said with a delighted drawl that had Alastair's inflections, but used Anna's voice. Oh, fuck this, he thought and dubbed the thing Anna. "I see Castiel has finally made you his boy toy."

Yeah, and the job had definite perks, but he still couldn't let that one slide by. "And how's life as Anna's bitch?"

The ugly scowled while the beauty looked pleased. It was like a kaleidoscope threw up and got mixed with squashed spider parts. Made Dean shudder and he wanted to move even closer to Cas, but, nope, not gonna happen. At least not until this was over then he was so gonna make Cas fuck the memory of it out of his head.

"Foolish, beautiful Dean. He will reject you when he truly knows you," Anna purred. "Come join with us, we who know all, and still want you."

Fuck. He wanted to laugh them off, but he'd never really been a contender in the high-self-esteem stakes, not even before ten years of doing things that sickened him just to save himself. Shame flooded through him in a torrent he knew Alastair would always unleash. His master. His mentor. His fucking role model. And Anna, who'd known all the right things to say to make him feel he could have something, even if Castiel thought him too tainted to touch.

He trembled at the memory of how much he had needed her to touch his shoulder, to feel that warmth, that love again. Again. His mind latched onto the word and held on tight. Cas had flown into Hell, looked directly into what his soul had become and had loved him. Still loved him. "Go to Hell, Bitches," he hissed.

"He and his are beyond you now, Foul One," Cas broke his silence. "Be gone!"

Together they swept their wings and struck Anna, sending her flying, if not back to Hell, close to it.

Despite lacking lungs, Dean felt winded, like he'd run a marathon or something. Not mere words, then, but a true mental attack. "I'll always be the weak link," he sighed, so tired of hating himself, and of never finding a reason not to hate himself even more.

Cas swarmed around him, making Dean feel as snug as the chocolate center of a Tootsie Pop. No words followed. No 'you're a good man, Dean' or 'you held out longer than anyone, Dean,' or even 'you did the best you could for a weak, pathetic mess.' Instead he radiated love, filling Dean with it until he felt embarrassingly … gooey.

"Okay, okay, stop already," Dean grumbled.

He felt Cas' amusement. "I could, and we can return to the kitchen. Or. …"

Okay, he'd bite. "Or what?"

"I could show you how this form makes love."

Dean squeaked, wasn't proud of it, but he definitely squeaked. "We can get closer?"

In answer Cas gave a little pulse that momentarily blurred every single line between them. Felt fanfuckingtastic. "Care to give it a try, beloved?"

"Hell yes!"

"Dean!"

"Hey, package deal here, feathers – mouth goes with the soul. Suck it up and deal."

Something close to a sigh passed through Cas. "An old curse comes to mind."

"Yeah, yeah, 'may you live in interesting times.' Consider me the poster boy, now shut up and make with the angel fucking."

Another of those sigh things, but the lines began to blur again. "Wait! Does Sammy know we're okay?"

"Yes, Dean. Now, shut up and let me love you."

"Hey, mouth."

And the sky over an old junkyard rang with the sound of an angel's joyful laughter.

End


End file.
